Setting Down Roots
by fragrantfields
Summary: Bill/Saul/Laura In this BSG AU (no Ellen, no cancer) , Bill, Laura, and Saul try to settle into life on Earth, balancing the feelings they have for each other with their old and new roles as leaders and elders of the Fleet. Old love, new love, and love of honor and duty pull all three in different directions, and then there's the public opinion of what's left of the Fleet...


Written for the 2013 bsg-remix, as a remix of plaid-slytherin's fic "Resolutions," a wonderful B/S/L fic!

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The day was a perfect blend of warmth and fresh breezes, a kaleidoscope of scents mixing in the air; fruit trees heavy with blossoms, the lush, green scent of a hundred different grasses, some hugging the ground, some tall and swaying, a faint musk of elusive wildlife, cautiously curious about the new arrivals. Every breath brought the realization that this was not recycled air but fresh, and tinged with something wild.

Saul rubbed a handful of dark earth between his fingers, the loamy fragrance reminding him of home…or at least his implanted memories of home. He shrugged. As long as the memories were accurate enough for him to know fertile soil when he saw it, who cared where they came from?

The sun was pleasantly warm on his back, his muscles felt stretched and loose from physical work. Laura was out of the hospital, and Bill…well, Bill seemed to be closer to coming around than he'd been in a long time.

"So, what do you think?" Lee asked.

"I have a good feeling about this place. Close enough to the settlement, but not too close. The Old Man needs to feel he's not on duty all the time."

Lee laughed, a note of skepticism creeping in. "I don't envy you trying to get him to buy into civilian life. His last go at retirement lasted, what…a week?"

"He says he's going to do it this time." Saul dug the blade of his shovel into the rich dirt, wondering if this one sampling would turn into the foundation for a new home…a new start.

For the three of them.

Saul brought the blade up and over, turning another patch of earth. In the distance he saw clumps of work groups busy with the chores of the day. Behind the mess tent smoke rose from the cook fires, smaller now that people were starting to carve out their own patches of Earth for their own. He and Lee were the only ones on the gently sloping ridge leading to a flat area bordered by low spreading trees.

_He'll be my step-son if this goes through._ He wished he had a better handle on how Lee would take that.

Lee stood, watching Saul work, his arms crossed, one eyebrow quirked up.

"If 'a man isn't a man until he wears the wings of a Viper pilot,' what's Dad going to be when he finally takes them off?"

"He'll still be the Old Man, Lee. But he'll be able to just live for a change. He'll be able…" His voice trailed off as he stared down at the rough bunkhouse that had been their home for too long. The bunkhouse that kept them limited to "Admiral" and "XO," at least in Bill's mind.

_Bill's not only one who has to roll the hard six sometimes._ He met Lee's gaze, which was growing more serious with each passing second. Saul cleared his throat, wanting his voice to sound definite and sure.

"He'll be able to be a husband, have a personal life again." His one good eye met Lee's. He almost laughed at the flicker of confusion he saw there. He shoved the shovel blade deeper into the ground and leaned against it, waiting.

"You mean Dad and Laura? Or—" A flush barely showed under the suntanned skin of Lee's cheeks. "There's been some talk about you and Dad."

Saul's ears pricked at that. This had been Bill's fear, that resentment would run rampant over the senior officers flouting regulations while still leading the Fleet, even if "the Fleet" would never fly again.

"What kind of talk?"

Lee's lips turned up in a good-natured smirk. "Mostly that somebody should put some curtains up in the bunkhouse." He turned serious, reaching out to put a hand on Saul's arm. "And that you guys deserve to be happy. So if you're thinking about Dad being your husband—"

"Not just_ my_ husband," Saul said. Lee's smirk went back to confusion and Saul had to hold back a bark of laughter as Lee took his hand off his arm.

"He'd be Laura's husband as well. Same as me."

_Gods, it felt good to get the words out at last. _He'd talked about it with Laura, their voices hushed and furtive. He'd said them to Bill, braced for the latest argument. He'd said the words in his head more times than he could count.

Now he was saying those words to a member of Bill's family, a member of their community. Not quite like walking down what passed for the street, hand in hand, but close enough to start a bead of nervous sweat trickling down his back.

Lee's confusion cleared, and a wide smile lit up his face, reaching his eyes and crinkling the tanned skin there. "The three of you are gonna get married?"

It was Saul's turn to flush. It had been a long time since anybody besides Bill and Laura had been happy for him… about anything.

"We're talking about it, yeah. Bill's got the paperwork…" He looked down at Lee's out-stretched hand for a full second before its meaning registered.

"Congratulations, or you have my blessing, or whatever I'm supposed to say here." Lee took his hand and pulled Saul into a quick hug, startling both of them.

"There's nothing definite yet, Lee. I mean, how we feel, that's a sure thing, but what we're going to do about it…your father's got a lot of military protocol to get past. And Laura wants him to feel as sure about this as we do."

Lee turned towards the bustling settlement, one hand stroking his chin. "I might have a couple of ideas. Dad always had a thing about symbols." He clapped Saul on the back and gave him another one of those genuinely happy smiles, this one touched with mischief. "Good digging, XO. I'll talk to you later."

_What the frak have I done? _Saul watched his lover's son walk back down to the settlement in long, loping strides. He hadn't seen the boy this happy since before they lost Kara again.

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Laura knew Saul was off in a Raptor, flying a sour-looking woman over a distant survey area. Thankfully, no one else had sought Bill out. He was seated at his desk, surrounded by stacks of papers. _This should be on Lampkin,_ she thought with some resentment. But it was Bill's place to say that, not hers.

He looked up as she came through the door. "Hey, Laura." He nodded towards a chair filled with binders. "You want me to move those? Have a seat. I've just got a few more—" He broke off as she came around to his side, rolled his chair back with one foot, and leaned against his desk.

"I know how absorbing all this can be if you let it," she said, sweeping her hand towards the stacks of documents. "But Bill…I'm cleared from being under Cottle's care, and it's beautiful outside, and we're alive and together." She rested her palms on his shoulders and leaned forward.

"Can't we just enjoy it, what we've got, for a little while?"

Bill looked up at her, his eyes losing some of their seriousness, and shoved his chair out a few more inches. Taking that as tacit permission, she turned and sat on his lap, legs primly together, and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"The windows—"

"Oh, Bill…nobody cares. Nobody except me, Saul, and you. I'm fine with it, you seem to be"—she punctuated her teasing tone with a wiggle against his lap—"and Saul would be, if he was here."

He sighed and put his pen down, seeming to surrender as he folded his arms around her. "That's easy to say, but Saul and I still wear the uniform. And we've worn it a long time. Some things don't change overnight. Not without following certain procedures."

"I ran into him outside the hospital." She grinned, remembering their goodbye kiss, which started fairly sedately, until he pulled her around the side of the med-tent for a longer kiss and a quick cuddle.

"He's getting a little looser about the uniform, I noticed…unless shirts saying _I got crabs at the Leonis Summer Seafood Festival _have become standard-issue."

Her playful mood seemed to be having some effect on the over-worked Admiral. "Thirty years or more, and there's still a part of him that always has to buck the system, at least a little bit."

He was started to grin now, relaxed and toothy. She could feel the tension ebb out of his chest and stomach as she curled into him. "Think that's part of why we love him?"

"I'm sure of it. You've had a taste of it…well, more than a taste, I guess." She gave him a suggestive hum of agreement against his throat. "But you should've seen him when I first met him, before he went through that bad patch."

"I wish I'd known you two back then. I bet you were a pair." Laura slipped a hand up to the back of his neck, rubbing the tense muscles she found under her fingers. They slowly began to unknot.

"Oh, that we were. We were something…especially him."

Laura squirmed against him as she settled into a more comfortable position. "When did you know that there was something special about Saul…that you and he would be good together?'

He had a faraway look in his eyes, and something about the way he was holding her changed; his embrace seemed harder, rougher for a moment, then relaxed and became familiar again.

"Well, there was this bar fight…"

The lines in his face softened as he launched into his memory of meeting Saul: the seedy bar, the brawling men, and Bill breaking it up, rewarded with war stories even worse than his own. She could tell the memory had been carried close to his heart for years, a talisman, worn and rubbed smooth. It felt like he was giving her a piece of his past to hold, as she let his words paint pictures in her mind.

"So, you felt something for him, even then?" she asked. The brash images of her future husbands as young reckless men were endearing (and frankly, erotic, especially when she mentally inserted herself at that age into the picture). She stifled a giggle, thinking of bringing home a couple of merchant marines and announcing that she was entering into a group marriage.

"It was…there was this connection, this feeling that I just wanted to be around this guy, wanted to be his friend, I guess. When he was on his game, he was smart, and tough..." He looked past her, to the window that seemed too exposing.

"Things just felt more…_right_, when we were together. Then we were in his one-room walk-up...I don't even remember what we were doing, but there was this spot, this little curve at the side of his neck, and it hit me, that I had to kiss that spot, even if it was just once and never again."

She grinned against his chest. "I know that spot. We were hurt, and cold, and miserable on New Caprica, but kissing him there made him shudder. Made me feel human again."

She fell silent, her chest tightening as she realized a Cylon had touched their own humanity in ways their own kind never had.

Bill was lost in his reverie of his younger days, she could tell. She glanced up, and his eyes were bright, the blue in them the color of the hottest part of a flame.

"It didn't take long after that. You know how he is...once he makes up his mind that things are going there-"

"You just have to go with it," she finished for him. "I know. I wasn't sure what I wanted, that first time. And then he started kissing me..." She felt her face begin to warm with remembered pleasure, catching her off-guard. "I wanted him inside me. I could almost feel what it'd be like, just from the way he kissed."

She could feel him begin to stir against her bottom. His memories seemed to be pushing away the day's responsibilities. It was working for her, too, taking her out of her worry that he'd never relent and just let go while they could enjoy each other.

Bill nodded. "He always did kiss the way he frakked. Easy at first, really light, and you think he's going to be this shy, tentative guy, and the second you respond...it's like the warrior comes out in him."

The image of the two men, hesitant at first, then going at each other hot and hard, played in her mind. She loved watching them now, the bone-deep bond so evident it the way they played each other's bodies along with hers. But to have seen them when they were new to each other, learning each other...the thought brought a rush of liquid heat to her core.

"It sounds like both of you were really happy then."

"We were, but you know how it is when you're that age. You think it's always gonna be that easy, start taking what you've got for granted." He sighed, deep from his belly. "I guess we both wondered who else might be out there. We talked about how we weren't going to be exclusive to each other, not yet. The night we met-that wasn't the last bar fight he got in. And I wasn't the last one he brought home to frak," he said, more matter-of-factly than she expected. Laura could hear a layer of sadness under his calm tone.

Her heart went out to him. Sometimes she wondered if all he had ever really wanted was a whole, healthy family to make up for the one shattered before he was even born. The Colonial Fleet had given him that, in its way, but had wrapped "family" up in so many rules, it was like he was afraid what he had would collapse without that structure.

"When we were in space, things seemed so much clearer between us. But when we were in port..."

He shrugged. "Then we got assigned different runs for months, didn't seem to find time to be together. By that time I'd met Carolanne, and I tried to tell myself Saul was just a last fling of my youth."

"I've seen the pictures. You were still such kids, even then." The steady beats of his heart were a reassuring rhythm under her cheek, whispering that things would turn out all right.

"Seems like it now, doesn't it? I thought I wanted the stability, a nice, quiet family life…and Saul wasn't ever going to live 'quiet'." He chuckled. "He was still wanting to tear it up when we were in port, hit all the bars, all the strip joints. I was checking out the used book stores and the vintage weapons shops."

"Had you talked about how you felt?"

He shook his head. "Not really. It's like we knew we were heading in different directions, even on our last long run. I remember we were kind of sitting like this," he said, tightening his arms around her. "I was still catching my breath—he was good with pinning blankets to the rack riggings even then, carving out a little privacy—and I told him about Carolanne, and going into the Fleet."

She drew back to meet his eyes. "That's when he started going downhill, wasn't it? You leaving him behind, moving on?"

"I don't know how I missed it. Maybe I just didn't want to see it." A muscle twitched in his cheek, the one that jumped when he was being hard on himself, taking the blame for whatever was going wrong.

Her skirt whispered against his pants as she slid off his lap to stand and take his hand. "Saul's hard to read, honey. You should have seen us on New Caprica, going back and forth with each other."

He let her pull him up, and they stood there for a moment, leaning against the desk and holding each other. "I should have been there, you're right. When I saw him get off that Raptor, his eye, the way he looked…and then you, looking shell-shocked when you thought nobody was watching…"

"That's not what I meant," she said, shaking her head. "I felt guilty at first, when we were together down there. I'd had that time with you, and I'd hoped—" she broke off, trying to gather the right words as she traced patterns on his shirt with her fingertips. "But he understood, the first time I came out of detention…and the second time. He was there, and for an hour or so, sometimes for a night, I could feel safe, cared for. And after a while…"

"You felt loved. Even if you never said the words." His tone was soft with memories.

"He's good at that," she agreed. She looked past his shoulder at the beds that now stayed pushed together. Even so, there was something about the separate sheets, the different blankets, that made the arrangement look temporary. When Saul was here, she didn't notice. But with him gone, even for a day, the beds looked not quite right, haphazard. Like they could just as easily be shoved apart again.

_This is where three people frak in secret…or try to, anyway. Not where married people sleep through the night, curled together. _

Laura straightened and stroked his cheek with a gentle hand. "We need to talk some things out when he gets back, Bill. Saul and I don't want to rush you on this, but we don't want to wait too long, either."

She turned towards the desk, not wanting to see the resistant look she was afraid he'd have. A familiar document at the top of the stack caught her eye, fresh black ink filling in most of the blanks.

_Application for Married Housing._

She had expected to be the one to fish the application out of the pile of papers, the one to push for this...or maybe Saul. She glanced at Bill, and the mix of hope and guilt she saw in his eyes was clear: he wanted this as much as they did. He just wasn't as sure he deserved it.

Hand trembling just the slightest, she picked it up and began reading. In the line for type of marriage, he had neatly penned in "Group." Beneath it, he had written their names, in a script more flowing that she was used to, almost a proud calligraphy.

_Name of Spouse 1:__**William Adama**_  
_Name of Spouse 2: __**Laura Roslin**_  
_Name of Spouse 3: __**Saul Tigh**_

Butterflies stirred in her belly at seeing it like this. The prosaic government form was his instrument to tell them what he wanted, even while the ghosts of the past were making him struggle with the words. She'd save her analysis for another time...right now, it was enough to see his feelings in black ink on the printed page.

"You don't think he'll mind, his name coming after mine?" She touched the letters reverently and wondered if anyone in the settlement had framing materials. She'd enjoy looking at this in their own home.

"Alphabetical was the only fair way I could think of to list us." His pensive look was gone, replaced by something closer to quiet joy.

"Says the man whose name starts with an "A," she teased.

He took the paper from her hands, carefully putting it down before pulling her into a long hug and longer kiss. Both were breathing harder when they pulled apart.

One day, she'd dig further into what the turning point was that made Bill finally decide this was the right time. Maybe it was something Saul had said or done when she wasn't around. Maybe it was something she had done. Or maybe Bill had finally gotten what she and Saul had learned...life's too short to snub happiness when it offers itself. One day, maybe he'd talk about it. Today, though, she was content to enjoy what they had. She knew Saul would agree.

And from the soft, loving look in Bill's eyes, he wasn't as far from being ready for that kind of happiness as she'd thought. She suddenly felt like celebrating, and hoped Saul would be back soon.

"You feel like putting together something special for dinner, for when he gets back?" he asked.

Eyes dancing, Laura moved towards the small kitchen._Looks like she wasn't the only one feeling celebratory._ "Like an engagement dinner?"

"Something like that, yeah." He picked up his pen again.

"I'll get things started, Bill. You complete that form."

"I intend to complete a lot more than that." His sigh was that of a happy man, finally content with his life as he pulled the paper towards him.

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The days were hotter now, and the air stayed moist, refreshed by afternoons of soaking rain, and scented with robust growth of planted seeds. Bill wiped the sweat off his brow as he looked over the neat rows of green leafy stalks in front of him. The tomato seedlings were already putting out tiny yellow and white blossoms. The corn in the next plot was knee high, and there were times where he could swear he could actually see the stalks growing as he watched.

Back towards the small, rough-hewn cabin were patches of transplanted herbs Cottle had okayed for consumption, some sharp and tart, others fragrant and sweet. A last plot, on the other side of the cabin, was covered with vines and leaves of root vegetables, a mix of Colonial and native.

It was the season of putting down roots.

"Taking a break, Old Man?" Bill turned as Saul came up to him, a leaf-wrapped packet in his hand.

"Can't work all the time…isn't that what you and Laura keep telling me?" He took the offered packet, unwrapping the banana leaf holding a few slices of an orange sweet-musky fruit.

"Looks good, doesn't it?" Saul snagged a piece of mango and popped it his mouth, his eyes on the newly finished cabin. A little larger than some of the others that had started to dot the landscape, a lot smaller than the bunkhouse that was growing empty as people moved out into their own homes.

"It'll look better when we're finally in it," Bill said, stiffening by reflex as Saul put an arm around his waist. He drew a steadying breath and relaxed into the embrace. It didn't matter anymore if people knew. The colonists had shown their approval by pitching in and building a home for three with all the energy and goodwill they'd put to building cabins for the other couples and families. His caution was just an old, bad habit he needed to break.

"We've waited this long, Bill. We can wait another day." Saul pulled him closer and brushed his lips over his cheek. "Getting impatient?"

"It feels funny, just the two of us. I worry about Laura up here alone." Bill looked towards the cabin window, catching glimpses of Laura moving around the interior with Lee and Helo.

"It's only been two days, and she's not alone, Bill. Sharon and Hera've been up here with her."

Bill snorted and pulled away. "Sounds like a Gemenese custom, if you ask me, not seeing the bride before the wedding. Who comes up with this stuff?"

Saul gave him a smirk that bloomed into a full grin. "Just be patient, and be thankful the custom doesn't include the grooms."

"You two are up to something, aren't you?" His beginning annoyance melted away in the sun as he ran his eyes over his tanned, wiry-framed fiancé. He wasn't sure why Laura had moved in before them, but Saul seemed dedicated to taking his mind off her absence, using the past two days to recall every sensual encounter they'd ever had, it seemed like, and imagining Laura into the scenarios of their past.

He'd scoffed at the idea of an official honeymoon when they'd brought it up, saying that there was too much to do, and they weren't a trio of virgins anymore, needing time and space to learn each other. Laura had said something about apparently needing to create a little mystery, right before she packed a bag and a pallet and moved into the just-finished cabin.

Now, a honeymoon sounded like a wonderful idea. As much as Saul left him sated, he missed her touch, her scent. He could tell Saul did, as well. They had not just recalled, but had re-enacted a couple of their earliest encounters...last night had left him with aching hamstrings, and Saul's shoulders had been stiff this morning, but it had been worth it. It had felt like a coda to the time of their younger love, the deliberate transition that they had never really had. He was ready, now, to come fully back into the present. They both were.

A flash of white and blue near the cabin window caught his eye. He could hear Laura from where he stood…he'd know that laugh anywhere.

"What the frak are they doing in there?"

The look in Saul's eye was unreadable. "The question is, what are we doing out here? We've done all the gardening we need to for today. Time to go get cleaned up." He began tugging Bill towards the river.

"Not so fast!" Bill protested as Saul pulled him away from the cabin. "The wedding's not 'til morning."

"Have you looked in a mirror lately? By the time both of us wash the work-stink off, get a decent shave and haircut and clean under our nails we'll be lucky if we're not late."

Bill shrugged in surrender as Saul picked up the pace. They veered off to swing by the bunkhouse for soap and towels just as Bill noticed a group of settlers heading towards the cabin.

"Is that Lee? What's all that stuff they've got?"

"Never mind them. We've got our own agenda to take care of." Saul's eye was definitely twinkling, and Bill found his thoughts slipping away from the mysterious activity and back to mental images of tomorrow's wedding night.

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The last notes of an Aerilon wedding song faded away as Bill looked down at his hand, joined with two others in a tight grip and looped with white ribbon that tied the three of them together. It felt like nobody wanted to let go. His eyes met Laura's, then Saul's, and knew they felt the same.

Saul had been so dignified, straight and tall in his dress grays. It seemed fitting, somehow, that the last time they got dressed in their officer's quarters, it would be in their most formal uniforms. They'd had to help each other with the sashes and medals, fingers fumbly with anticipation. The way Laura's face had lit up as Lee walked her down the rows of colonists, though, told him it had been worth the extra effort.

And she had been a picture of perfection, the sun sparking the fiery highlights in her hair and bringing a glow to her cheeks. His heart beat faster as he drank in the sight of her in the red outfit he remembered so well. Saul's whispered "Glad she hung on to that" in his ear echoed his own thoughts exactly.

Finally, they turned towards the gathering, extending their bound hands that signified the three of them were now one marriage, one family. Bill looked over the crowd, even now checking for any scowls of disapproval, but all he saw were smiles, grins, and a few happy tears. A low chant of "So say we all" began somewhere at the back of the crowd, and swelled as others took up the words.

He blinked against the tears that threatened to well up. He and the two people he loved could finally have what they'd wanted for so long. He was almost sad to feel the priest carefully unwind the white ribbon, folding it away for the next wedding to come.

Lee was the first to come up and hug the newlyweds…and then it was like a dam breaking, as everyone swarmed around the trio with hugs and wishes for a long life and love.

"Watch my tomato plants!" Saul warned a former knuckle-dragger who'd stepped too close to the garden.

"You're the one who wanted the service by the gardens, dear," Laura said, laughing at his concerned glare.

"Let's herd the crowd towards the settlement," Bill said quietly. "We've still got a few rituals to take care of."

"Lead the way, husband." Saul's teasing tone couldn't hide the obvious pleasure he took in saying the words.

Hand in hand, the three of them walked down to the center of the settlement, where the music had already started.

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Two hours later, the happy triple made their way back to their new home. Laura felt a twinge of anxiety, feeling like she and Lee had been co-conspirators…again. She hoped they would approve. At least she had Saul's approval for part of the surprise.

"Who's gonna do the honors?" Saul nodded at the red string tied in a loose knot across the door of the cabin.

Bill gave Laura a look full of love and pride, then looked at Saul. "I think our wife should do it."

Saul chuckled, and her heart thrummed at seeing him so easy and happy. "I like the sound of that. Yeah, our wife needs to be the one opening up our new home."

"Thanks, husbands." She giggled, feeling light and silly and deeply, deeply satisfied. The terminology was going to take some getting used to, but the reality felt as right and good as anything she'd ever had in her life. She let go of their arms and untied the knot. All three stood there a moment, looking at the door ready to open into their new home…their new life.

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Saul wasn't sure who had stepped over the threshold first, and really didn't care. His husband and wife were home with him, and he just wanted to take a moment to let that idea sink in. He was startled out of his blissful newlywed haze by Bill's surprised bark of laughter.

"Is this because I kept reminding you two about not having curtains?"

Saul's eyes met Laura's, and he couldn't restrain his own laughter. "Well, it seemed to be such a big frakkin' deal for you…."

The cabin's furnishings were sparse, as were most of the new residences. On every window, though, there was a pair of white and blue checked curtains, open and fluttering in the breeze now, but able to be drawn shut when they needed privacy.

Bill turned around, nodding with approval at the simple table and chairs, the stone hearth framing the fireplace, the rush-bottomed chairs set by a table and lamp at the perfect height for reading. The smell of newly-cut wood filled the air, fresh and lightly astringent. "You two should have let me help with this."

Laura put an arm around Saul's waist. "You were working so hard to get everything wound up and ready for you to retire. This is something we wanted to do for you."

Saul kissed her temple, then caressed Bill's cheek, reveling in the feel of both of them. It had been a long time coming, and he wanted to enjoy every second of it.

"We had help, you know. A lot of this was Lee's idea." He felt a beam of pride over his new step-son and the way he'd stepped up to help them make a real home.

"And then there's my idea," Laura said, walking towards the other room of the cabin. "My design, anyway. Some of the others did the actual wood-working and sewing." She paused in front of the door to the bedroom.

"I hope you both like it." Her grin said she already knew they would. Saul put his arm around Bill as she opened the door.

"Oh my gods…," he exclaimed. He had an inkling but this exceeded all his expectations.

"It's gorgeous…and so _big," _Bill said, staring at the sight in front of them.

Taking up half the room was a bed easily six feet on each side. A patchwork of stitched-together blankets covered the top, and the posts at each corner had been sanded smooth and shone with rubbed-in oil. Laura stood next to it, hands folded as properly as if she were back in a classroom.

"What do you think?" She looked at them with wide-eyed innocence. If their expressions were anything to go by, both men were already envisioning all three of them enjoying their built-for-three marriage bed.

"I think it's a good thing we have curtains," Bill said, his voice in that low and husky range she loved.

"Roger that," Saul said as he moved to her side. "Lady, you are one hell of a woman. Wife," he amended. "One hell of a wife." He pulled her into a tight hug, then kissed her lips, gentle and teasing. Before he ended the kiss, Bill was there, first placing his lips at that spot below Saul's ear, then taking his turn at kissing their bride.

Laura hummed in satisfaction as Bill and Saul turned to each other, years of wanting still making sparks fly between them as their lips met, warm and lush.

The leather sashes and dress grays came off a lot faster than they'd gone on. And her own outfit was whisked off with a few tugs and one untied knot. In their earlier furtive encounters, they would have been all over each other by now: sharp, frantic kisses, hardening flesh, exploring fingers gliding into wet, slick heat. Now, though, in unspoken agreement, all three held each other, naked and reverent.

They each had their scars, their signs of the hardships of the past years. _They're beautiful, _Saul thought. And the way they looked at him said they saw the same beauty. Words of love peppered the air, coming around to more lust-driven speech as their mutual arousal became evident.

"I should close the curtains," Laura finally said, reluctantly pulling away. Wrapping her top around her like an impromptu sarong, she walked over to the window. She pulled each pair of curtains closed, shutting out the rest of the world.

When she came back to the bed, Saul and his new husband were already under the light covers. He hadn't been able to resist giving him a few teasing nips and kisses while they waited. As she shrugged off her top, Saul moved away from Bill, leaving a Laura-sized space between them.

_We're good together_…he'd thought that for a long time.

They'd be even better, making room for her.


End file.
